John August

Search Results for: courier

Using a different font for the cover page on a script

Formatting, QandA

On your posted drafts of [Go](http://johnaugust.com/library) and [Big Fish](http://johnaugust.com/library), you have a different font on the cover page for the title of the script. Since you have made it widely known that you use Final Draft, I assume that you used the “export to PDF” feature in Final Draft to do this. When I try to export using a font other than a standard font for the title (e.g. Courier, Courier New, Times New Roman, Arial, etc.), it saves that particular font as Arial or Times New Roman. How do you go about having those different fonts on the PDF versions of your scripts?

–John Herzog
Gotha, FL

The problem is specific to Final Draft for Windows. On Mac OS X, any program can export to .pdf from the Print dialog box, so What You See really is What You Get. It’s absurdly easy. All of the .pdf’s I make are done that way, rather than with Final Draft’s export command.

Obviously, I don’t know Windows as well as I know the Macintosh, but here are some possible solutions:

1. [Adobe Acrobat](http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/main.html). Making .pdf’s is its job. But it’s not cheap.
2. Find a third-party utility for making .pdf’s. Any good Windows shareware/demoware site should have something. Hopefully someone will suggest one in the comments.
3. Find a (free?) utility for combining .pdf’s. On the Mac, a good free one is [Combine PDFs](http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20286&vid=110325); Window should have something like it. Generate a cover page in some other program that lets you save .pdfs, then use the combining utility to smack it onto the first page of your screenplay .pdf.

Of course, option four would be to get a Mac. But that’s probably overkill for this situation.

When Final Draft won’t open under OS X

Geek Alert

I’m posting this in hopes of saving other screenwriters a few hours of potential frustration with Final Draft. After installing the OS X version, or upgrading your system software, or sometimes for no discernible reason at all, Final Draft will occasionally refuse to open. It bounces one or twice in the dock, then quits. Sometimes it gives you a message; other times it doesn’t.

Obviously, you can go through the help forums at Final Draft to look for an answer, but if you’re using the OS X version for Mac, first check for one specific thing: a corrupted font file.

courierfdIn the “Fonts” folder of your account’s “Library” folder (that is, John/Library/Fonts, rather than the main system-wide Library) look for the file “Courier Final Draft.” (Confused? Click the thumbnail to show you where to find this file.)

Drag the “Courier Final Draft” file to the trash. Log out, then log back in. Try to launch Final Draft. If it works, problem solved. Go to the website to download a non-corrupted version of Courier Final Draft, and put it in the main library’s fonts folder.

If that doesn’t work, make sure you’ve updated to the most recent version of Final Draft, then start digging through the support forums.

Ratio of pages to screen time

QandA, Words on the page

How do you (roughly) calculate the ratio of script length to screen time?
Would you use a different calculation for different genres?

–Rebecca

The very general rule is that a page in the script should equal a minute of
screen time, which is one reason the industry has standardized around 12-point
Courier for the font. Since most screenplays are around 120 pages, the movie
should work out to be 120 minutes, or two hours, assuming every scene in the
script makes it into the movie.

Of course, a page full of action would likely take longer than a minute, just
as a page of rapid-fire dialogue would be a lot faster. That’s why before a
movie goes into production, the script is often "timed" to estimate
how long the movie will be, so the director and producers can plan accordingly.

A "script timer" is a professional reader who estimates how long
each scene will play, and thus, the length of the overall movie. Generally,
the script timer will take into account the director’s vision and style when
timing the scenes; the David Lynch version of a scene would tend to run longer
than the Michael Bay version. Many script timers are in fact the script
supervisors,
who will be set during the entire production helping the director, actors and
editors maintain continuity and catch mistakes. From the screenwriter’s perspective,
this is one of the most important people on the set, since he or she always
has the director’s ear, and will be the person correcting actors who mangle
their lines.

Dead rapper’s mom is calling the shots

Producers, QandA

I have a situation
that is very complex. I’m in the process right now of producing a movie with
the mother of a famous rapper who was killed. This will be a feature film about
his life as a youngster up until his death. The problem is, she wants us to
also use the screenwriter who wrote the first draft of the script, who she
has a personal relationship with. How do we deal with this situation once the
director gets involved?

–D

Carefully. And prepare for it to get rough.

I’m including your question not because I can offer you any real help, but
to remind readers that producers don’t have an easy life. Aspiring screenwriters
tend to think of producers as sharks or gurus, but often they’re people like
D struggling to make a movie under difficult circumstances.

Just a guess, but I suspect the screenwriter who wrote the first draft is
inexperienced, and may not be up for the task. If D or the director decides
to replace him, who’s the bad guy? If the mother freaks out, who’s going to
deal with her?

The real world, outside of the safety of 12-point Courier, is chock full of
these uncomfortable situations, and producers aren’t always the bad guys.